Tag: review

The July/August 2009 issue of Zymurgy has the results of this year’s reader’s best commercial beer in the United States. After being beat out for first place two years in a row by Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Vinnie Cilurzo took first place this year with his Russian River Pliny the Elder. The issue includes an article by Vinnie himself where he spends five pages telling you how to brew a double IPA. It includes an updated recipe. I found it especially interesting because I recently featured the recipe he gave out at the the 2005 National Homebrew Competition. It seems he has been tweaking the recipe and this may account for the change in the polls. The IBU values listed are Vinie’s measured values, not calculations.

	Then	Now
OG:	1.075	1.070
FG:	1.013	1.011
ADF:	81.8%
IBU:	95–100	90–95
SRM:	5.9	7

Fermentables	Then	Now
Two-Row Pale Malt (1.8 °L)	13.3 lbs. (5.897 kg)	11.0 lbs. (5.0 kg)
Crystal (45 °L)	0.32 lb. (145 g)	0.5 lb. (277 g)
Carapils Malt (2 °L)	0.94 lbs. (425 g)	0.5 lbs. (277 g)
Dextrose (0 °L)	1.1 lbs. (500 g)	0.4 lbs. (181 g)
Hops
Warrior 15.6% AA, 90 min.	2.75 oz. (78 g)
Chinook 12.2% AA, 90 min.	0.5 oz. (14 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, 90 min.		3.5 oz. (99 g)
Simcoe 12% AA, 45 min.	1.0 oz. (28 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, 45 min.		0.75 oz. (21 g)
Columbus 14.3% AA, 30 min.	1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, 30 min.		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, 0 min.	2.25 oz. (64 g)
Centennial 8.0% AA, 0 min.		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12% AA, 0 min.	1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, 0 min.		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Columbus 14.3% AA, dry hop.	3.25 oz. (92 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop.	1.75 oz. (50 g)
Simcoe 12% AA, dry hop.	1.75 oz. (50 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total)		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total)		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total)		1.0 oz. (28 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop)		0.25 oz. (7 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop)		0.25 oz. (7 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop)		0.25 oz. (7 g)
Yeast
White Labs California Ale WLP001, Wyeast American Ale 1056

This is actually a copy of my first post over at beerporn (completely SFW).

This is a review of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California.

Though it is only available seasonally, and marketed “especially for the holidays,” this beer is used by the Beer Judge Certification Program as an example of an American IPA and not a spiced or specialty beer. At 6.8% alcohol by volume this beer will give you a nice warm feeling of cheer on a cold winter’s night.

Sierra Nevada lists the ingredients as two-row pale and english caramel malts with chinook hops for bittering, cascade and centennial to finish and dry hop. They just say they use a “top-fermenting ale yeast,” but it’s probably the Chico yeast. If you look at some of the more popular clone recipes, you’ll see that’s really all there is to it.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a thick, creamy off-white head. The aroma is hoppy with hints of flowers, spice, citrus, and pine with a faint malt sweetness. The beer feels smooth on the tongue with the right carbonation for an American IPA and a crisp finish that leaves you wanting another. It has a good hop bitterness with a nice malt backbone, with hints of unsweetened chocolate and cherry, like biting into a Godiva cherry cordial.

Overall I really like this beer. The wife an I stock up on it every year between Thanksgiving and New Years.